Truist Financial Corp Acquires 4,245 Shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL)

Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 382,174 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 4,245 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp owned approximately 0.13% of Ecolab worth $90,957,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Ecolab by 351.1% in the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 12,278 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,922,000 after purchasing an additional 9,556 shares in the last quarter. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in Ecolab in the second quarter worth about $1,347,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ecolab by 4.4% in the second quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 4,801 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,145,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the period. Ecofi Investissements SA purchased a new position in shares of Ecolab during the 2nd quarter valued at about $11,538,000. Finally, Kampmann Melissa S. grew its stake in shares of Ecolab by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Kampmann Melissa S. now owns 19,074 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,540,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. 74.91% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ecolab Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of ECL opened at $253.37 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.35 billion, a PE ratio of 46.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.13. The company’s fifty day moving average is $245.81 and its 200 day moving average is $237.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 1.10 and a current ratio of 1.50. Ecolab Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $156.72 and a fifty-two week high of $256.59.

Ecolab (NYSE:ECL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The basic materials company reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.01. Ecolab had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 21.65%. The firm had revenue of $3.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.24 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Ecolab Inc. will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ecolab Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 17th will be given a $0.57 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 17th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.90%. Ecolab’s dividend payout ratio is presently 42.22%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on ECL. Citigroup upgraded shares of Ecolab from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $267.00 to $265.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Ecolab from $260.00 to $306.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Ecolab to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Ecolab from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $233.00 to $283.00 in a research report on Monday, July 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Ecolab from $225.00 to $228.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ecolab currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $267.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total value of $950,196.63. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,014,586.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Ecolab news, EVP Gregory B. Cook sold 3,811 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $249.33, for a total transaction of $950,196.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 8,080 shares in the company, valued at $2,014,586.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director David Maclennan purchased 650 shares of Ecolab stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average price of $240.41 per share, for a total transaction of $156,266.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 17,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,319,446.47. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.04% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ecolab Company Profile

Ecolab Inc provides water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Global Industrial; Global Institutional & Specialty; and Global Healthcare & Life Sciences. The Global Industrial segment offers water treatment and process applications, and cleaning and sanitizing solutions to manufacturing, food and beverage processing, transportation, chemical, metals and mining, power generation, pulp and paper, commercial laundry, petroleum, refining, and petrochemical industries.